3 Things Every Company Should Know about Salesforce AI
The increasing adoption of artificial intelligence has lead more and more executives to ask what role the powerful technology could play in their organization. It is no question that AI is and will continue to revolutionize the way businesses interpret data, interact with customers, and discover opportunities. However, before making the switch to becoming an AI powered organization, there are a few very important questions organizations should ask in determining readiness.
“When used right, technology becomes an accelerator of momentum, not a creator of it.” – Jim Collins, Good to Great
Here are 3 crucial components that should be thought of as prerequisites before taking the plunge into AI, so let’s dive in! After listing each component, I’ll provide detail on how to approach them – allowing your company to be one step closer to making the most of Salesforce Einstein.
#1 Your Data:
It’s not a question of having data, but how quickly you can find, access, and leverage it.
To take full advantage of the capabilities of Salesforce’s AI product suite, there needs to be a significant level of unification among data. Many companies, having built their solutions in silo, are left with disparate systems where important data resides. This leaves some companies experiencing a downside to owning so much data.
That’s right! In some cases, data could be a culprit. According to a report by IBM’s Bluewolf – “72% of salespeople from small businesses report data inconsistencies as the No. 1 cause of their incomplete view of their customers” (The State of Salesforce, 22). In cases that involve multi-step, longer sales processes that depend on many variables – salespeople are required to search for information in places they haven’t had to look before to meet customers and prospects with relevant interactions. This can prove to be an issue in a sales cycle where time is crucial.
On the other hand, a sales team powered by artificial intelligence and backed by accurate and organized data can leverage powerful tools such as Salesforce’s Einstein Opportunity Insights and Lead Scoring – which can accurately determine the likelihood for a new conversion or give recommendations when a customer is likely to buy.
For this reason, many companies are finding the value in efforts of consolidating, standardizing, cleaning, and reorganizing the way data is captured and stored, including finding ways of integrating their disparate systems. With a 6.5 Billion Dollar acquisition of MuleSoft, Salesforce is poised to be the premier one-stop solution for both integration and AI solutions.
#2 Your Business Process:
Your business processes determine the success of your organization. Identify bottlenecks in your process and eliminate them.
When your business has been doing things the same way for a long period of time, it’s difficult to change, which is why it’s imperative to take a proactive approach when evaluating your business process.
So what’s the first step? While it may have made Simon Sinek famous, 3-year olds have been using this technique for years: Start by asking why.
To see how ‘why’ can help you, take your current sales process as an example. Start with the time you qualify a lead to the time they pay their first invoice. For each step in your process, ask yourself why it is done that way.
Repeat the ‘why’ question at least 5 more times and you may begin to gain new perspective. Go to the next stage of your process and repeat. This is a simple way of looking at an important business process that at its core is a way of reasoning from first principles. It breaks down a complex process into smaller, fundamental parts, getting to the heart of an issue. Bring in your Director of Operations, Sales, Business Development, and IT, and try the same exercise to see what they come up with!
To review vendors that are strong players in this market, head over to G2 Crowd for more insight into which applications are the best fit for solving your most pressing business challenges. There is also a deep pool of talented Salesforce professionals who can guide your company through the discovery process to maximize your investment with Salesforce.com.
#3 Your Customer Relationships:
Artificial Intelligence is and will continue to change the way companies interact with their customers. Know how your customers will react to AI.
Despite the positive ways that AI is impacting the world, there is still a lot of hesitation to adoption. The world is in the middle of what tech leaders, including Salesforce’s Marc Benioff, are calling the fourth industrial revolution. All aspects of life are being transformed by a new era of technology. A lot of people, understandably, are critical of AI’s ability to replace jobs, skills, and human interaction.
It is the organization’s job, therefore, to understand the relationship they have with their customers and determine how they will react. A prospect for a new Aerospace technology may react differently to being told that they were discovered by a machine learning algorithm than a contractor – who prefers personal interaction.
In addition, consider how your sales team communicates with clients. Is your sales cycle a long, multi-faceted process? Or is it based on a series of one on one conversations. These questions are important to your organization and provide insight to how Salesforce Einstein will score leads. As an organization, Salesforce recommends “taking into account a customer’s unique journey with their organization” (The AI Revolution, 13). How you build relationships with customers should determine how your organization approaches a Salesforce AI strategy.
With easy access to clean data, a clearly defined business process, and fundamental knowledge of your customer, you are on the right track towards leveraging AI to accelerate momentum within your organization.
If you are challenged with getting the most out of your Salesforce investment, reach out to Pinkus Partners to speak with a Salesforce consultant today.